A Place Called Vertigo
by TwiLyght Sans Sparkles
Summary: Walker needs Danny's help, and coffee is the only motivator. But is the young hybrid more trouble than he's worth? Sequel to A Dish Best Served Hyper.


_Thank you so much to dragondancer123 for planting the seed that grew into this idea! _

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* * *

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Walker had never been one to condone substance abuse. Drugs messed you up, plain and simple. The benefits were virtually nonexistant, the damage extensive. He'd witnessed the carnage firsthand, more times than he cared to remember. The images scarring his mind had propelled drug dealers to the top five of his Most Hated Criminals List. It would be a cold day in Hell before he handed anything resembling drugs to an impressionable teenager. Coffee wasn't a drug.

Was it?

An hour ago, he would've answered with an emphatic "No!" Coffee wasn't a drug. It wasn't anything like a drug. As a human, he'd lived for days on the stuff. Coffee and the occasional donut, that's all you really need in this world.

Why, oh why had he said that to Phantom?

Danny's foot tapped the floor- not impatiently, but because it had nothing else to do. He reached up every few moments to grasp a handful of his white hair, twirl his finger through it, then drop his hand to tap the desk with his fingers.

"Phantom," Walker said. Whether he didn't hear or was simply pretending, Danny didn't respond.

"Phantom!"

Danny's head jerked up, green eyes wide. "Wha? What is it? What's wrong?"

Walker exhaled. "Could ya stop tappin' something for _one_ minute?"

"Oh. Okay, what do you want me to stop tapping?"

"Everything. Just...sit still for a minute. Please?"

Danny shrugged and the tapping stopped. Walker went back to reading his copy of the Constitution. He was just beginning to enjoy the silence when Danny started humming- softly at first, but then he seemed to forget he wasn't alone and the volume increased.

"Phantom."

The humming stopped and Danny looked up again. "What?"

"Stop humming."

"You don't like it?"

Walker sighed. "No, I don't. Sounds like an old refrigerator."

"Don't you recognize it?"

"I wouldn't recognize 'Yankee Doodle' if you were the one hummin' it."

Either the jibe didn't regiseter or Danny chose to ignore it. "'Vertigo'! U2! Don't tell me you haven't heard it."

"I don't listen to U2. Contraband, remember?"

"Heretic." He returned his focus to the computer screen, searching for a solution to the problem Walker had been unable to solve. How he'd solve it in his current state remained a mystery.

* * *

_One hour ago _

"What're you doing here, Walker?"

Walker could have asked himself the same question. Here he was, in Phantom's basement, about to ask for his help. What was he doing, indeed. "I need your help with something."

Danny folded his arms. "Oh?"

"Yeah. See...we got a hacker."

"And you didn't hire a specialist because...?"

"You're good with computers."

"So is a specialist."

Walker shook a finger in Danny's face. "Watch your tone, Phantom. I gave you immunity, and I can take it away anytime I want."

"No you can't. You said so in the contract."

"Where?"

"One second." Danny leapt through the ceiling, returning a moment later with the photocopied pages of the document. He flipped to the back, pointing out a bottom paragraph. "See? Right there. 'This order cannot be revoked. Signed, Walker.'"

Walker took the pages and flipped ahead. "But it says right _here_ I can get you for any breach of this contract- in other words, a crime- at my discretion."

"As defined by the United States Constitution."

"Right. As defined by the...what're you grinnin' about?"

The superior smirk never left Danny's face. "The only crime they define at all is treason. So unless you catch me trying to overthrow the federal government, you're outta luck."

Walker snatched the pages away and read the paragraph. Phantom wasn't kidding. He slapped the papers onto a nearby counter. "Damn you, Phantom, how'd you swing that one?"

Danny shrugged. "History's the only class I ever pay attention in. I remembered the teacher saying something about how the guys who wrote the Constitution-"

"The framers," Walker corrected.

"Yeah, them. Well, the only crime they defined was treason, so I added it when you were still revising. So," he continued, leaning casually against a counter, "if I were to help you catch this hacker, what's in it for me? You know, now that blackmail won't work."

Walker slapped his forehead. He'd read through every page, scanned every word, worked and reworked sentences until they did what he wanted. He thought he had added just enough loopholes to escape Phantom's discovery, but apparently the hybrid had added a loophole of his own.

In the meantime, the hacker needed to be caught. And if he didn't get Phantom on his side, the hacker might beat him to the punch. He sighed in defeat.

"I'll buy you coffee."

Danny smiled and offered his hand. "Deal."

* * *

Unable to handle one more minute of Danny's humming, Walker stood. "I need more coffee."

"Bring me a cup?"

"No."

"Okay."

He left the office, sighing in relief once the humming was out of earshot. He was halfway down the hall when Danny's voice floated after him:

"Hey, since when do you have My Little Pony as a desktop?"

The words stopped him in his tracks. My Little Pony?

No. He wasn't going back there until he had a good reason and a fresh cup of coffee. Walker continued down the hall, not stopping until he reached the breakroom.

* * *

Monitor the network, be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Those were Danny's instructions, and for the past hour he'd done nothing else. He was just beginning to think the hacker didn't exist when- surprise!- the generic blue screen was replaced by a sparkly rainbow pony on a pink background.

Aside from that, little more had happened. He made a quick scan, but all traces of the hacker had vanished. Only the My Little Pony background remained.

He'd agreed to _this_ for a cup of coffee?

Five minutes later, Walker was still gone. Danny rested his chin in his hand and stared at the office. Pretty boring, even for an office. A desk, a few chairs, some leatherbound books, several calendars...

Jeez, how many calendars did one guy need?

Danny fired an ice beam at the calendar directly across from him. The ice encased it like a picture frame, clear and shiny like glass. It looked cooler already, no pun intended. He smiled. What else could he do in this place?

He could create an ice sculpture. Everyone loved ice sculptures. But did he really want to make one for Walker? Maybe if it were of something he'd hate, like sunshine or happiness...but how would he put happiness into sculpture form?

Danny fired another beam, encasing more of the wall this time. If he covered the entire office in ice, Walker wouldn't be able to reach any of his calendars. Almost like a hall of mirrors, or a maze.

A maze.

Grinning to himself, Danny stood. Walker would be back any minute, and he didn't have much time.

* * *

Walker returned to his office, second- or was it third?- cup of coffee in hand. Amazing what a little caffeine could do for your mood. Maybe now he'd be able to handle Phantom's ridiculous humming without-

_Thunk._

Walker stumbled back a step. Something was in his way, an invisible wall barring him from his office. He lifted a fist and knocked.

Ice.

And echoing around it, a hyperactive giggle.

"Phantom, what did you do this time?"

Danny giggled again. "I call it Vertigo! Get it? A place called Vertigo! Like in the song! 'Hello, hello, I'm at a place called Vertigo...'"

"I told you, I don't listen to-"

"Psh, yeah, whatever. _Everyone _listens to U2."

Walker felt his way along the ice wall until he found an opening. A few more steps took him to another wall. "Phantom, you got ten seconds to get rid of this maze or I swear I'm gonna..."

"Gonna what? Threaten me some more?" Walker heard the scrape of a desk drawer being opened. "You keep non-dairy creamer in your desk? Cool!"

"Put that down!" He had no idea why Danny would find non-dairy creamer cool, but wasn't about to find out. His next turn took him into a dead end.

"Y'know, I learned about this stuff. Don't remember where, but...hm...wonder if they were lying..."

"You put that down!" Walker kicked the ice wall, but only succeeded in stubbing his toe.

Through the ice, Walker saw Danny's shimmering, distorted outline raise a twisted piece of paper and touch a glowing finger to it. He watched in horror as it caught fire.

"Now, all I need to do is throw some creamer into the air and..." The blue bottle was thrust into the air, and Danny raised the flame to the cloud of creamer. Instantly the flame was magnified tenfold. Danny laughed. "Dude! That is so cool!"

Out of the dead end, Walker took another frantic turn. If he could just get to his desk...

Another cloud of creamer caught fire, and Danny laughed again. "Dude!"

"I said put that down!"

Danny tossed some more powder into the air and held the flame to it. Walker saw it coming; his aim was off; the flame was too low; his desk was going to-

_FOOM!_

Walker froze as the flame took hold of his desk and spread. The smoke alarms wailed. Too late, the sprinklers showered water onto the office, quenching the blaze.

Danny stared, wide-eyed, at the smoldering desk. "Oops."

Even to his own ear, Walker's voice was low and menacing. "I am gonna kill you, Phantom."

* * *

Maddie gasped as Danny stumbled into the entryway, kicking off his shoes. "Danny! What happened? You're soaked!"

Danny sighed, staring at the floor. After a long minute he met her gaze. "Are we going to move anytime soon?"

Maddie laughed. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"I think we should."

"What makes you say that?"

Danny glanced out the window. She followed his gaze, but all she saw was the fading sunlight. "Just trust me on this one."


End file.
